Chapter 66: Rabbit at twelve o’clock in the morning

Faced with Angelina’s irritation, Jing Qizhen remained unshaken and was as calm as ever.

Jing Qizhen said, “This isn’t about whether I’d let you. It’s about whether I could.”

Leaning casually on the sofa, he looked weaker than anyone else but his words were blunt and maddening.

Angelina who was stunned for a moment before understanding dawned on her: “…”

As expected, Jing Qizhen continued, “From my perspective, of course, I wouldn’t want you to die before revealing all the clues. Even after you’ve shared everything, I still wouldn’t want you to fall into any danger. In the erosion area, ordinary humans like us share the same interest and that is to solve the problem and leave safely. Isn’t that right?”

Perhaps it was the relatively mild tone of his last two sentences but Angelina, who had once faced death and experienced that terror, quickly calmed down. She no longer dwelled on trivial details.

Holding the hot cup in one hand and tightening the bath towel around her, she took a deep breath to steady herself before beginning to speak, “Let me explain the clues I’ve gathered in detail.”

Angelina’s mysterious disappearance occurred on the fifth day, so she was aware of what happened in the days prior.

From Angelina’s account, her perspective aligned with what Jing Qizhen and the others already knew. Joyce, Professor Jones, and the others hadn’t lied.

Fortunately, Angelina was meticulous and provided some additional subtle details.

Angelina said, “Sophia died from poisoning on the first day but we couldn’t find anything that could’ve poisoned her.”

Jing Qizhen: “So, neither the poisoner nor the source of the poison has been identified?”

Angelina nodded. “Yes, and after Sophia’s death, her pupils were clearly constricted. It seemed like acute poisoning. Common substances that cause pupil constriction include opioids, barbiturates, strychnine, and pilocarpine.”

Jing Qizhen paused for a moment. Though not a medical professional, he had heard of some of these drugs. Hesitantly, he asked, “Aren’t these fairly common medications?”

“Once a drug enters the body, depending on its dosage and concentration, it can have no effect, a therapeutic effect, a toxic effect, or even a lethal effect. Isn’t that common knowledge?” Angelina countered.

Though Jing Qizhen had a general idea, he firmly and decisively declared, “Of course not!”

Angelina, rejected outright, glared at him before grudgingly saying, “Fine! Anyway, I feel like Sophia’s death was caused by drug poisoning but I’m not sure exactly which drug was responsible.”

Lu Lingxi ignored the previously mentioned opioids and barbiturates, quickly jotted down strychnine and pilocarpine as keywords in his notebook, and underlined them emphatically.

Looking at his notes, Lu Lingxi interjected, “Both toxins seem to be alkaloids, don’t they? Strychnine likely comes from some kind of leguminous plant, right? Let’s set that aside for now. I’ve never heard of pilocarpine. What kind of plant is it?”

Manman shrugged with her uninjured hand and said, “Too bad Grandma Fang, our biology expert, isn’t here this time.”

“Next time, before entering, let’s ask HQ to prepare an encyclopedia—an electronic, searchable version—so we can bring it in on our laptops.” Lu Lingxi began writing a reminder in his notebook.

Angelina happened to know the answer and casually explained, “You’re pretty close. Strychnine comes from an annual climbing herb native to West Africa. Pilocarpine, on the other hand, comes from a perennial plant with large gray-green leaves and striking red-purple flowers, native to Brazil’s tropical rainforests.”

Jing Qizhen: “So, they’re pretty easy to identify?”

“They sound like exaggerated cartoon plants from children’s fairy tales,” Jin Guijuan murmured.

Angelina nodded. “Exactly.”

Jing Qizhen and the others exchanged glances.

It was clear that the vines covering the villa weren’t pilocarpine plants. However, strychnine vines, considering the exaggerated and distorted style often found in erosion areas, seemed plausible.

With that in mind, Jing Qizhen asked, “Do you recognize the type of vines wrapped around the villa?”

Angelina hesitated briefly. “I… I didn’t pay much attention.”

Manman reached into her pocket. Earlier, Si Jiayang had used a Polaroid to photograph the villa when it was on fire and the vines were visible in the pictures.

Angelina took the small photo from Manman, stared at it, and fell silent.

During her frantic escape from the fire, wrapped in a soaking wet blanket, she hadn’t noticed the vines. But seeing them now, even with flames engulfing the villa, it was impossible to ignore how the entire structure was densely entangled by enormous vines.

Honestly, while such imagery was common in illustrations and design, seeing it in real life had a strong, unsettling impact.

Angelina said, “These aren’t any vines I know. Such giant vines typically only grow in tropical rainforests. Boston’s climate isn’t suitable for them…”

Jing Qizhen: “Use your imagination. Do these vines bear any resemblance to strychnine plants?”

Angelina: “…If you mean they both climb and twist, then yes, there’s some resemblance.”

Jing Qizhen didn’t dwell on the matter and shifted focus. “Sophia’s death on the first day was due to unknown poisoning. So, what about Sean, who died on the second day? What was the cause?”

Though Jing Qizhen’s questioning had left Angelina’s mind in disarray, she pulled herself together and continued, “Sean’s death was extremely unusual. When we found his body, the bones in his feet were completely shattered. His soles seemed to have been stabbed multiple times, leaving them a bloody mess and his big toes and heels were chopped off…”

Hearing this, everyone’s attention immediately focused on the severed big toes and heels.

Given their earlier speculation that the erosion area might be tied to fairy tales, the group exchanged glances and nearly exclaimed in unison, “‘Cinderella’s story!?”

Gu Leshan murmured, “But in ‘Cinderella’, no one dies, right? Her stepsisters cut off their big toes and heels to fit into the glass slipper. Those features should appear on two different people.”

Jing Qizhen turned to Angelina. “And then? Was there any other evidence at Sean’s death scene?”

Manman, meanwhile, focused on Professor Jones, Joyce, and the others. “They never mentioned this. All they said was that Sean died on the second day and that the floor was covered in blood.”

Recalling the scene, Angelina shuddered and hesitated before saying, “They weren’t wrong… At the time, everyone was shocked. The scene was as gruesome as a dismemberment case. Add to that the mutual suspicion among everyone and we quickly left Sean’s room. Later that night, I went back alone to examine Sean’s body and found something unusual…”

She added, “Oh, and I noticed something else. Sean had the habit of wearing his wool socks but this time, both his socks and slippers were missing from his bedroom.”

Jing Qizhen frowned slightly. “Missing slippers… Could that correspond to the glass slipper in Cinderella? But no, in the fairy tale, the glass slipper was the one thing that didn’t disappear…”

While taking notes, Lu Lingxi interjected, “And the wool socks… what fairy tale could they represent? The only thing I can think of is Christmas presents.”

Mentioning Christmas, Lu Lingxi couldn’t help but recall the events from the erosion area in Shennongjia. Thankfully, that eerie little girl from last time hadn’t left him with any psychological trauma…

Angelina tightened the bath towel wrapped around her and instinctively raised the hot water she was holding closer to her lips. But when her gaze suddenly met Jing Qizhen’s cool gaze, she remembered what he had just said and slammed the cup onto the coffee table in annoyance.

She wasn’t drinking anymore!

After tossing the cup away in frustration, Angelina scratched her messy, ash-covered hair and continued, “At the time, I also thought of the fairy tale Cinderella. But I simply assumed someone was deliberately recreating scenes from the story to commit murders.”

Jing Qizhen nodded. “That’s a reasonable thought. Then? Did you notice anything else?”

Most people encountering a murder would first assume there was a culprit. However, Jing Qizhen and his team had experienced two different types of erosion areas and they instinctively connected the events to fairy tales.

For Angelina and her group, though, they were confined in a sealed-off villa with no awareness of erosion areas. Their thought process had only evolved from suspecting a prank to believing it was a deliberate murder.

Angelina slowly nodded. “Yes, at first, I didn’t think of anything else. By that point, both Sophia and Sean were already dead, and the rest of us were all on edge. I was desperate to identify the killer, if only for my own safety.”

She hesitated, then continued, “And then, on the third night, I saw that giant rabbit and suddenly realized something was off…”

There was a flicker of panic in Angelina’s eyes as she took a deep breath to compose herself and explained her thought process in detail.

“It was Williams who died on the third day,” Angelina began. “That evening, I saw him. He was already showing obvious signs of anxiety and unease. I tried to comfort him but he avoided me and hurried back to his room alone.”

Manman: “Do you think he had already discovered something at that point?”

Angelina: “Maybe.”

Jing Qizhen pondered aloud, “When we entered the villa wrapped in those vines, we immediately encountered the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. Anyone who entered would fall asleep, so it was a very clear sign. Based on that, your previous encounters should have had similarly distinct characteristics.”

Hearing this, Angelina froze.

She forgot her earlier annoyance with Jing Qizhen and suddenly looked enlightened, her face lighting up with realization. “I understand now!”

Jing Qizhen and the others immediately perked up with interest. “What do you understand? Tell us!”

Angelina, in her heightened emotions, spoke rapidly, “On the third night, I noticed something was off with Williams but he kept avoiding everyone and said nothing. Later that night, I was suddenly awakened from my sleep. Then, I heard a ‘thump, thump, thump’ sound in the hallway. When I opened the door to check, I saw a giant rabbit!”

Holding a fruit platter, Si Jiayang happened to overhear this and couldn’t help but comment, “Quite brave.”

In a villa where murders had already occurred, hearing strange noises in the middle of the night and opening the door without hesitation was either reckless or courageous. For someone without extraordinary skills, Si Jiayang could only admire Angelina’s boldness.

Recalling the scene, Angelina described, “The lighting was very dim at night, with only a single dim wall lamp in the hallway. When I saw the giant rabbit, my first reaction was to think someone was wearing a costume.”

Jing Qizhen instinctively asked, “A costume… So, was the rabbit roughly larger than an average human?”

Angelina nodded, vividly recalling the moment. “That rabbit hopped as it walked, and the ‘thump, thump, thump’ sound I heard was from its jumping. Its height while jumping was just enough to avoid hitting the ceiling on the second floor of the villa. Near the corner, I even saw its rabbit ears get pressed against the ceiling.”

Jing Qizhen and his team: “…”

The mental image seemed to shift from terrifying to absurdly comical.

Angelina continued, “The rabbit was carrying a copper basin filled with something in one hand and a pocket watch in the other.

“It kept checking the time and muttering to itself; ‘Time’s up! It’s almost midnight! The Prince’s banquet is over! I still haven’t found the Queen’s red apple! And there’s no time to pick out the peas from the ashes!’”